The Californian from Salinas, California • 7

I Cc. mmrman CALIFORNIA Wednesday, May 14, 2008 Racial issue raised in slaying Prosecutor pulled from LA. football star death case office denied Shaw's claims, but Sandi Gibbons said Hanisee was taken off the Jamiel Shaw Jr. never in a gang, but a gang expert sparked an angry reaction on talk radio and elsewhere by saying Shaw may have been targeted for identifying in some way with a rival gang in his neighborhood. Alex Alonso posted an article on a Web site that quoted comments reportedly written by Shaw on his MySpace.com page that included insulting remarks about the 18th Street and Crip gangs.

Alonso also said Shaw was wearing a red belt when he was shot, a color associated with the Blood gang. Homicide detective Frank Carillo, who is overseeing the investigation, said none of those things would make Shaw a gang member. County prosecutors have previously pressed high-profile hate crime cases, and federal authorities recently accused members of a South Los Angeles Latino gang of targeting blacks. But the degree to which violence in the city is race-related remains a sensitive issue among local officials. Police Chief William Bratton recently reacted angrily at a news conference when asked whether a spate of shootings was race-related.

He softened his rhetoric after some black residents criticized him for not taking their fears seriously, but still points to statistics showing the vast majority of homicides do not cross racial lines. Police say Shaw was Most kids growing up in neighborhoods like Jamiel's would know gang members. That in itself does not mean someone has a gang affiliation, or else "that would make every student at a school a gang associate," he said. Bloodhound, a self-described nonviolent member of the LA Bloods who declined to give his real, name for fear of reprisals, said three Blood gangs are active in Jamiel's neighborhood. For kids growing up in the area, it's almost impossible to avoid interacting with gang members on some leveL "Younger cats his own age that are from one of the Blood gangs would have applied a little peer pressure," Bloodhound said.

case because it "was a marriage that wasn't working." Hanisee referred questions to Gibbons, who said the prosecutor had no reason to pressure the Shaws or to claim their son was a gang member. Two new prosecutors were assigned to the case, and investigators are taking a fresh look at whether hate crimes could be charged. An earlier initial investigation found no evidence to warrant the charge, Gibbons said. California Digest Compiled from wire reports SAN FRANCISCO San Carlos man feces manslaughter charge A San Carlos man, 18, will be charged with involuntary manslaughter after a fight outside of Park over the weekend turned fatal Taylor Buckley is accused of throwing the punch that led to the death of 18-year-old Anthony Giraudo of Redwood City after an argument outside the gates of the ballpark Friday night Giraudo was hospitalized after falling and hitting his head on concrete and pronounced dead Saturday. District Attorney Karnala Harris said in a statement that her office was seeking the maximum charge under the law.

An involuntary manslaughter conviction carries a sentence of up to four years in prison. LOS ANGELES 68 implicated in UCLA medical records case State health regulators have linked 14 more people to the improper accessing of medical records of high-profile patients at UCLA Medical Center. The Los Angeles Times is reporting that brings to 68 those implicated in the scandaL Actress Farrah Fawcett, pop star Britney Spears and California first lady Maria Shriver are among the 61 patients whose medical records were breached. Authorities on April 28 announced the indictment of former UCLA Medical employee Lawanda Jackson on one count of illegally obtaining individually identifiable health information for commercial advantage. Jackson, 49, resigned in July.

The Times reported she acknowledged snooping but denied giving out the information or being paid for it Tv'-" mm September 14 Quail Lodge By THOMAS WATKINS The Associated Press LOS ANGELES The community solidarity that followed the killing of high school football star Jamiel Shaw Jr. did not last. A prosecutor has been pulled from the case after clashing with Shaw's parents, who are demanding hate-crime charges against the suspect, believed to belong to a violent Latino gang. And the family is fighting suggestions that an affinity for a rival gang was what led to Shaw's slaying March 2. At the heart of the friction is the polarizing issue of race in a city known for its diversity of cultures.

Shaw, 17, was black; prosecutors say the man charged with killing him, Pedro Espinoza, is in the country illegally. Shaw's family is fighting for passage of "Jamiel's Law," which would overturn a long-standing rule preventing Los Angeles police from inquiring about suspects' immigration status. It has not been welcomed in all corners; opponents say it could deter illegal immigrants from reporting crimes. The rift between the Shaws and the district attorney's office was exposed last week when Jamiel Shaw 47, and his ex-wife Anita Shaw, 43, met with District Attorney Steve Cooley to complain about Michele Hanisee, the prosecutor on the case. Jamiel Shaw said Hanisee pressured him to stop pushing for the law and threatened to depict their 'son as a gang member unless they dropped demands that she prosecute the case as a hate crime.

"Basically, she came across as being pro-immigration," Shaw said Tuesday. "She was definitely putting pressure on the family." The district attorney's "1 'Early Bird" Discount Tickets ONLY $85 prosecutors say Espinoza, believed to be a member of the 18th Street gang, drove to Shaw's neighborhood and shot him after asking him a question about his gang affiliation. Espinoza had been released from jail on weapons charges just one day before the shooting. Espinoza's attorney Jorge Guzman declined to comment A preliminary hearing is set for Thursday. Politicians, residents and activists rallied around Shaw's family.

Shaw was a standout on the gridiron and appeared destined for a sports scholarship at a top university. His mother was in the Army serving in Iraq. The mayor and other officials attended his funeral and placed a plaque on the spot where Shaw was gunned down. At a vigil two nights after his son's killing, Shaw Sr. appealed for calm and said he did not believe his son was killed because of the color of his skin.

That changed, he said, when he learned Espinoza was in the country illegally and had served time in jail where hostilities between black and Latino inmates Extended through May 15! After May 16 Tickets are $95 Cost Includes Entry, Food, Wine and Activities. (Attendance limited. Tomato Fest typially sells out weeks prior to event. Children under 12 free.) Tasting of 350 Tomato Varieties Tomato Dishes by 60 Top Chefs 100 Premium Wines Salsa Showcase Country BBQ Live Music ad Dancing i For Tickets: www.tomatofest.com or 800-965-4827 Net proceeds donated to Monterey County Farm to School Project ancf other chairities. LANSING, MICH.

run deep. "He was killed because he was black," Shaw said Tuesday. "A lot of these killings in LA. have been disguised as gang because they don't want the racial part to come out, the black and brown problem." i tfli S.D. woman back in jail after 32 years on lam A suburban housewife arrested in San Diego 32 years after she escaped from a Detroit-area prison is back in Michigan to serve out at least 9A years on drug charges.

Susan Lefevre arrived at the Robert Scott Correctional Facility in Northville Township about 2 p.ra Tuesday. The prison is about 20 miles west of Detroit The 53-year-old mother of three was arrested April 24 outside her home in an affluent area of San Diego. Authorities say she never told her husband and children of her past Michigan officials say LeFevre could be eligible for parole after serving about 9A years. SACRAMENTO Man feces charges for homeowner fraud A Madera County man faces more than 200 charges of defrauding California homeowners with an elaborate scheme to take advantage of their credit card debt JeffAllanMcCoonof Oakhurst faces 111 felony charges accusing him of defrauding about 50 homeowners since 2005. He is also set for a July hearing on 132 felony counts in Orange County.

Prosecutors say McCoon used his Palm Springs-based Pacific States Credit Company to find property owners with credit card debt They say McCoon falsified documents and filed liens against their properties. He then allegedly demanded property owners pay him to remove the liens before they could sell or refinance their homes. The 42-year-old is in Sacramento County Jail on charges of filing false liens, attempted extortion and grand theft. He did not enter a plea during a court appearance Monday. I wsEZZ-Z -n ess? 22 Mmmdr i 'iTV; JL 1 It 'f -'f I I 4 fTZ 1 A Ik I III.

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